I agree, the manufacturers do recommend using too much detergent. If you finish a washerful and then reset the dial to add another last rinse, you will see the rinse water all soapy and sudsy.
I’ve worked down the amount of soap added, increasing the number of “wash” minutes you set at the start of the wash. Clothes are as clean or cleaner (same amount of dirt removed, less soap added).
I think boiling the clothes is a generational thing. My paternal grandmother (born in 1909) always boiled the whites on the stove, and when us kids would stay a week or so, she would boil our clothes. Drove my mother insane–Grandma boiled the clothes so long, the elastic in the underwear would melt.
Aparently in her early days, there were no hot water heaters like today, so she was taught to get the whites white, you boiled them. Plus I would imagine in those days before indoor plumbing, you may have only taken a bath once a week, worn your whites longer, and therefore they needed boiled.
Update:
Today I’m comparing some socks I boiled with a little detergent and some socks I washed at normal temperatures with detergent & bleach. Have to admit it, the boiled ones do seem whiter. That is, the white parts seem whiter. Boiling didn’t get the stains out from the foot pad portion of the socks. At least no better than detergent w/a little bleach added does. I wonder if boiling just gets rid of more residual soap?
Question now is, does boiling or bleaching weaken the cloth fibers quicker? Does boiling/bleaching depend on the cloth, i.e. cotton/poly?
According to guy_from_wpa boiling can melt synthetics(elastic waistbands), so maybe boiling is only for cottons/natural fibers?
Would boiling with bleach be like, the bomb?
I remember Consumer Reports saying years ago that with modern laundry detergents, wash temperature no longer matters. I’m thinking they just might have been wrong.
lev,
As you’ve already guessed, boiling synthetics would cause them the fibres to shrink or distort. For this reason, the 95 degree temperature setting on a European washer is ONLY available on the cottons cycle, and can not be selected for any other fabric. If I select the synthetics cycle on my washer and then attempt to set the temperature to anything above 60 degrees (centigrade), it just beeps and prompts me to make a different selection.
I don’t know which wears fabrics quicker, boiling or bleaching. Bleach, I understand, can eat holes in clothes if it isn’t diluted or added to the washer correctly. Used carefully, and only when absolutely necessary - that is, to shift stains or give dingy whites a boost - it should be OK.
Elastic will degrade if boiled too frequently. Again, as with bleach, it’s best to use the 95 degree setting only when it’s really necessary. By doing this I’ve never had a problem with my boxer shorts falling around my ankles, in fact all my undies and socks still look like new.
And Consumer Reports were most definitely wrong, IMHO. Speak to any detergent manufacturer, and they will tell you that water temperature certainly DOES matter. Washer manufacturers will all tell you exactly the same thing too.